February 26, 2016
How to Grow Old
Read:
Isaiah
46:4-13
I
will sustain you and I will rescue you. — Isaiah 46:4
“How are you today, Mama?” I asked casually. My 84-year-old
friend, pointing to aches and pains in her joints, whispered, "Old age is
tough!" Then she added earnestly, "But God has been good to me."
“Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life,” says
Billy Graham in his book Nearing Home. "I am an old man now, and believe
me, it's not easy." However, Graham notes, "While the Bible doesn't
gloss over the problems we face as we grow older, neither does it paint old age
as a time to be despised or a burden to be endured with gritted teeth.” He then
mentions some of the questions he has been forced to deal with as he has aged,
such as, “How can we not only learn to cope with the fears and struggles and
growing limitations we face but also actually grow stronger inwardly in the
midst of these difficulties?"
In Isaiah 46 we have God's assurance: "Even to your old age
and gray hairs . . . I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will
carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you" (v. 4).
We don’t know how many years we will live on this earth or what
we might face as we age. But one thing is certain: God will care for us
throughout our life.
Lord, please teach us to number our days so that we may gain a
heart of wisdom. (See Psalm 90:12)
Don't be afraid to grow old; God goes with you!
INSIGHT:
Isaiah presents a stark contrast between the
chief gods of Babylon—Bel (or Baal) and Nebo—and the God of Israel. The
Babylonian gods needed their worshipers to care for and protect them (Isa.
46:1–2). But the God of Israel would care for, carry, sustain, and rescue His
worshipers even when they were old and gray (v. 4).
Source: Our Daily Bread 2016
